Agenda item - Member Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by Members:

(a)          Petitions: To receive any petitions referred from Full Council or submitted directly to the Committee;

(b)          Written Questions: To consider any written questions;

(c)          Letters: To consider any letters;

(d)          Notices of Motion: to consider any Notices of Motion referred from Full Council or submitted directly to the Committee.

(B)      WRITTEN QUESTIONS

(i)            Valley Gardens- Councillor Druitt

58.1      Councillor Druitt put the following question:

“Considering the importance of Valley Gardens to the city’s visitor economy, why have the Valley Gardens stage 3 proposals not been brought to this committee for discussion?”

58.2      The Chair provided the following reply:

“As a member of ETS Committee I am well aware of all the stages of consultation to date, with more to follow and listened to all the questions and responses given to people from the local tourism industry at the committee meeting of 27^th November.

I am also aware of the series of workshops on the plans that have been held, including with the tourism sector, the 1-1 on site meetings and meeting with local amenity societies. 

It goes without saying that if anyone from the tourism sector is unclear about any aspect of the plans or the stage they have reached they can contact us directly for factual information.  

But I will see if the Executive Director wants to add anything”

58.3      The Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture stated that projects involving delivery of Transport and Public Space Infrastructure or related policies are reported to and agreed at the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee as the main  service committee.  On this occasion, officers were following the previous decision-making process adopted for any other major transport scheme in the city centre, which includes Phases 1&2 of Valley Gardens, and have brought reports and recommendations to the Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee.

The Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture explained that with respect to Valley Gardens 3, a comprehensive reporting and consultation process has been undertaken from 12 Oct to 25th November that has generated over 800 responses and representations from a range of respondents including the tourism sector.  There were also additional representations made to the November Environment Transport & Sustainability Committee from local businesses. A number of workshops and meetings have also taken place with key stakeholder groups including public transport operators, walking and cycling as well as local businesses including estate agents, Doctors Surgeries and solicitors and visitor destinations such as Palace Pier and Sea Life Centre. Officers had also met with representatives of the newly-formed Valley Gardens Forum with a further meeting planned with the group at the end of January.

The Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture stated that the results of the consultation process and subsequent meetings have influenced the preliminary design option that will be reported to the special Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee on 7th February where officers would be seeking to agree to proceed to the next detailed design stage and subsequent further consultation.